Secrets, Lies and Atomic Spies - the Venona Project on NOVA, PBS

NOVA on pbs 8pm EST ^ | 2/5/2002 | NOVA production

[edwin hubble]

My comments: There were actually many spies. They did give Russia our atomic secrets. The FBI had the information by the time of the McCarthy hearings, but McCarthy knew nothing of the codebreaking. Much of this was confirmed by information from Russia after the end of the cold war.

This program vindicates the charges against Alger Hiss, among others.

Look for this to be re-broadcast within the week on many PBS stations.

[detsaoT]

PBS just made the *shocking* discovery that McCarthy Was Right?! Am I the only one to see the juicy irony here?

:) ttt

[edwin hubble]

Remarkably balanced for PBS

[Rain-maker]

Next week on NOvA: China Deja-Vu Atomic Voodoo?

[TonyInOhio]

Excellent program. I had remembered it this morning, but needed your "heads-up". Thanks!

Joan Hall's comments made me very angry. Ted Hall deserved what one of his colleagues recommended - that he be extradited to the United States, called back to military service, tried at court martial, and shot.

[keithtoo]

Most, if not ALL of the Leftist martyrs are and were COMMIES!! just like the Right said they were!!

Expect this story to be remarkably UNreported everywhere.

[edwin hubble]

Ted Hall was not recruited... He and his former college roomate sought out a Soviet contact.

They were among the many who actually idealized Stalin and mistrusted their own country.

[edwin hubble]

..Which makes it all the more unusual that PBS broadcast it with a minimum of 'spin'.

They didn't trot out the chorus of the defenders of Hiss. Just the immediate kin of Hall and Rosenberg. And then overcame those comments with the last word from those on the inside of the Venona project.

Worth seeing in re-broadcast if you missed it.

[RaceBannon]

I saw this tonight, I was too late to put in the tape in the VCR.

THIS IS DEFINITELY A KEEPER. It is being replayed on Friday night at 11PM here in Connecticut on Channel 24, the Hartford PBS station.

[edwin hubble]

This program had the ring of truth. It has the perspective of history.

[Kryptonite]

That was an outstanding program. It concluded that Ted Hall and Claus Fuchs should be regarded as the two most destructive spies to our secret nuclear weapons program. Hall gave away secrets from the Los Alamos program, including the formulas for processing uranium, and Fuchs provided, among other secrets, diagrams for the core activator. The concept of implosion had been so foreign to the Russians they didn't even have a word for it.

The program also revealed that FDR's administrative assistant himself showed up on Russian spy code messages, and flatly stated that every major government agency had been infiltrated with Russian spies. The US broke the Russian code because of a mistake -- the Russians used code panels for more than one message. While less than 1% of the messages were actually decoded, there were hundreds of spies that had been given cover names by the Russians. But alas, NOVA concluded that perhaps less than 5 people identified by McCarthy as communist spies were discovered on Venona Project code messages.

Definitely worth watching IMO.

[edwin hubble]

Great re-cap, Kryptonite.

The spy within the U.S. codebreaking unit (Weidman?) was described in the program as the single most destructive spy in the history of U.S. counter-espionage.

Further, the implication was made by the program that if the public had been told what was known by the FBI at the time, that the country would not have been so torn in two by the events of the McCarthy hearings. Much of the acrimony that this country went through in the 1950's might have been avoided.

It would have meant letting the Russians know that we had broken their code, but their mole had already tipped them off.

[edwin hubble]

It is unusual to see the simple truth delivered in a straightforward way.

According to the program, McCarthy was basically right, but he had no idea why. The government didn't want the truth out.

[NatureGirl]

It's interesting, seeing this thread here tonight. My husband picked up a video copy of this program from the newspaper where he works (their reviewer routinely throws out advance screenings). We watched it just last weekend.

I was struck by the difference between Hall's wife, and Sach's (the courier?) son. Sach's son said that, in later years, his dad realized that, if an atomic bomb was dropped on America, it would have been partly his fault.

Compare that to Hall's wife, who still considers her husband's treason as "the right thing to do" and "humanitarian".

The codebreaking part was fascinating. Amazing puzzle-solving skills!

PS If I got the courier's name wrong, I'll put the blame on the tape! Because it was a preview copy, it didn't have the subtitles that show the viewer the names of the people being interviewed.

[KC_Conspirator]

They didn't trot out the chorus of the defenders of Hiss.

That is because the evidence points to the fact that he was a spy under the codename "Garnet". Vasili Mitrokhin's stolen KGB archives also prove so in his book The Sword and the Shield.

[Ben Hecks]

At the recommendation of someone here on FR, I found and read "Witness" by Whittaker Chambers. It's a powerful book - I wasn't aware that Chambers first contacted the government in the late 30s to reveal his (and Alger Hiss') role in Soviet espionage. The Roosevelt administration sat on the information for 10 years.....Truman later referred to the allegations as a "red herring"; major media players attacked Chambers' credibility and attempted to sway public opinion (sound familiar?) These stories lead one to wonder how many Communist agents are currently in key positions in our government. The Venona Papers fully support Whittaker Chambers and leave no doubt as to the guilt of Alger Hiss and many others involved in Soviet espionage.

[edwin hubble]

Thanks for the insight.

Yes, like Ted Hall's widow, some of these folks are still 'true believers' in the Students' and Workers' Paradise.

It is a shame the country had to go through such a wrenching time.

I read recently a historian describing the 40-year Cold War as the actual "World War Three". When we look back on the extent of the struggle for the minds of Americans, it really was a world war. Cuba, Korea, Viet Nam, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, were all just battles.

and only China is left.

[longshadow]

According to the program, McCarthy was basically right, but he had no idea why.

As the program indicated, McCarthy was right in general, i.e., the government was full of Soviet Spies, but he was apprently off the mark in the details; i.e., only two or three of the folks that McCarthy denounced as spies were actually spies (so far as they could tell.)

All in all, it was a very informatiom program, and I took great personal satisfaction at the revelation that Hiss was without a doubt a Soviet spy, having once sat less than six feet from the scumbag while he wasted an hour of our class time protesting his innocence. I had no doubt he was lying at the time, and it is nice to know my impression of him has been vindicated.

I admire your screen name, BTW. It ranks up there with "OBAFGKMN".

[edwin hubble]

Sometimes history eventually brings out the truth...

But I think that much of the truth of the cold war may never see the light of day. (Kennedy's death...)

[Free the USA]

FYI